Don't Mess With My Mind
by vanquish.it
Summary: Broken, distraught, and grieving, Bella is only just managing to overcome the loss of her parent's deaths. But at five years old, it's not an easy task. But certain people weave certain magic, till torn apart. Reunions? possibly ; AH. AU. OOC ExB JxA ExR


**BPOV**

I had been born on the 13th of September to Axel and Sasha Charlton, effectively making me Isabella Marie Charlton. I can't really remember anything from the five years that I had with them. I do recall though, the cake that I received on my 3rd birthday though.

My mum and dad had both slaved the night before, trying to make a pink cake, with pink icing that was in the shape of a heart. Dad had taken a photograph of my mum taking off my blindfold, and my facing turning to utter awe of the astonishing creation before my, then, young eyes.

I take that photograph with me everyplace possible. In it, my mum has a tear of happiness rolling down her cheek and my mouth is a little 'o' with eyes mimicking my mouth. You could tell that everyone around the table was probably swimming in jealousy.

It was 5:30 and Mum and Dad were just waiting on Penny, the babysitter to arrive, so that they could leave to get to the lecture that was being held at the observatory, in enough time to have a drink before they went in.

When Penny, my 'big sister' arrived, Mum and Dad said that they would be heading out to dinner after the lecture and would be home around 11 - 11:30.

Little did I know, being the vulnerable 5 year old, single child, I was, it would be the last time that this would happen. That this would be the last night they would leave this house.

They died that night.

They were on the way back from _The Observatory_ in New York; my place of birth, not the observatory itself, but New York. They'd had dinner together 'under the stars' after the lecture. My Dad, Axel had created a little picnic, as if he knew what was lingering in the waters beyond them... the waters that they would soon wade out too.

On the way home, they were involved in a freak accident, five people had died. My parents making up for two of the five deaths that night.

Penny had stayed that night after being told the news from a policeman... that my parents had passed. She'd always said that she was my big sister, and I believed her; she was the big sister I never had, but always wanted.

When I woke up that morning (even being only 5 years of age), I had known something was up; there wasn't enough noise for things to be normal.

The person in the kitchen was only making noise now and again, meaning it couldn't be Dad. He was always clashing things around. Mum wasn't in the shower and the hairdryer wasn't blowing away either. I hadn't even heard my parents talking, in case they'd gotten hang overs and were recovering slowly, yet surely.   Odd. It wasn't a weekend, but a Friday morning, and I had been supposed to go to school that day.

I also noticed that _Claire De Lune_, was being played, too soothing for my mum's morning choice. I do remember her listening to classical a lot, but at night times, Coldplay or Royksopp were usually the morning waking up calls that resonated through the house.

I grabbed my favourite teddy; though it was more a floppy monster. I had named it Lucy. She was pale blue, and had eyes that made her look really smart; owl eyes. I had been given her when I was born from my uncle. I pulled her close to me and kissed her good morning.

With Lucy in my arms, I stared at my ceiling – navy blue with 'glow-in-the-dark' stars on it – followed by a swift stretch. I climbed out of bed, stroking my gold wall on the way out with my fingertips – I always did it and made my way down the steps.

Walking into the kitchen that morning to Penny, wasn't a total surprise, as I knew Dad nor Mum were, but I wasn't stupid. Mum and Dad _ALWAYS_ came home the night they went out, and Penny _NEVER_ stayed overnight (unless it was a weekend, then occasionally she did). Mum and Dad hadn't just been sleeping in, and I hadn't got the days wrong. Something was _definitely_ up.

I'd just stood in the doorway to the kitchen, and didn't say a thing as I had just observed Penny work her way around the white kitchen. I had been attempting to come up with a reasoning as to why this was all happening; nothing had come.

She had just finished making a hot chocolate for me; I'd guessed. She'd leant against the bench with her palms of her hands, pressed against it, taken the deepest breath possible then let the air come gushing back out in less that half a second.

As Penny stood up straight, she had her eyes closed, and she turned to lean with her back to the counter this time. She wiped her tear streaked cheeks with her fingers and then opened up her eyes to find me, my eyes wide with shock and my mouth in a little 'o'.

"Bella. Oh my gosh. Bella."

Penny had run over to me and encased me in the biggest hug ever experienced, constantly saying those 5 words over and over – like it was the only thing she was capable of saying. Sometimes she would add in a little variation.

I hadn't realised but I had been crying too, and I had known that whatever she was going to say wasn't good. It would be the worst thing I would ever hear – I knew I wasn't as naïve as any of the other five year old children. I had always been extremely mature.

I liked Penny. She was a really pretty lady that my parents always hired to look after me on their weekly outing on Friday nights. She was even pretty when she had been crying.

She picked me up, and took me into the lounge room, and placed us on the love seat – with me on her lap. _Claire De Lune_ was still playing, and had been for ages – she had put the song on repeat. Penny knew that it was my favourite song and that it calmed me down.

"Bella, honey." Silence besides the sobs we'd both been giving off filled the room. Penny spoke again in a soft murmur.

"Bella, sweetheart. There is no easy way to tell you this, and your age just makes it harder." Silence; for possibly three seconds, and then the proper waterworks had begun. I think that it was a mixture between Penny crying ane me knowing that something was strange.

I cried for days I remember. Eating barely anything, drinking only water and hot chocolates and listening to _Claire De Lune_… repeatedly. It had been – wait – still is my family song.

Penny never needed to say the exact words. She'd just mentioned that my parents had gone away for while – though she never mentioned where – just that they went on a bit of a holiday. She knew that I was smart, but couldn't bring herself to mention the worst words possible to a person's ears.

Thinking back now, I honestly don't know how she would have said those words to me. The words that crushed me, even when if I only thought them. If they had of been spoken, I don't know where I would be now.

She stayed with me at my house for a few weeks, before an adoption was arranged. Penny had spoken to my relatives, and they decided it was best for me to just move across the country, rather than to stay in New York - where it reminded me too much of my parents.

So I landed in Forks.

I was in a place that rained just about every single day of the year. If there was no rain, then it was overcast. The sun was only ever shining about two days throughout the whole year. Though, once familiar was with it, I found it didn't seem to bother me.

I was adopted by two lovely people, Charlie and Renee Swan. My name was changed to Swan.

Penny and my 'parents', Charlie and Renee, had arranged for Renee to fly over to New York, and she would make the flight that would take me away from New York; from the place that holds the few memories of my parents.

I left Penny at the LaGuardia Airport. I never wanted to leave her, so we talked almost every night for the first week, and then it changed to a couple of days in between, then once and week, till all contact diminished a few months later.

I guess at the time I was too caught up in my new found friend Edward; who bought along with him, an older brother Emmett, and sister Alice. Also their family friends, Kendra and Jasper Hale, who I became great friends with. Since the kids spent so much time together, they called themselves family.

I never had many friends in New York... actually I had no one that played a major part. Penny was basically my main source of friendship besides the annual Christmas visit from the cousins and grandparents. Yet, they were still always a few years older than me.

Edward Cullen; my perfect block of mouth-watering chocolate. When I was little he was the most favourite person I knew; he practically beat my new parents.

I've always been the type that trips over air. The type that danger is attracted to. Danger tends to think that I'm its favourite person, and they'll send any bit of it in my direction. No matter how minor or major, it found a path to me.

In the first few months of me moving to Forks, I had been able to bypass the emergency room of the local hospital, surprisingly. Though, not for long.

I'd had a couple of trip to the emergency room, but all of those cases were minor and really it was just Renee just over reacting.

Though when I was seven, it wasn't just an over reaction. It was rather serious.

I had been walking down the path outside my new home with Charlie in silence. It had been my favourite place to just walk. But, again, the moment was ruined by my luck of danger. I tripped and cut just below my jawbone.

I blanked out and the blackness had officially taken control.

**This is Bella looking back on her last night when her parents were alive. Her age and the time is not known, to you or me – cheeky grin planted across face ;)**

**It's not a prologue but it is part of the coming story :) **


End file.
